Jonathan Swift Quotes - Page 7

Quotes about:

• Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as it is generally in books the worst sort of reading.

  Jonathan Swift

  Book, Reading, Argument

  "The works of Dean Swif".

  12 Copy quote

• Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy, is the best bred man in company.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Company, Uneasy

  8 Copy quote

• Possession, they say, is eleven points of the law.

  Jonathan Swift

  Law, Eleven, Possession

  "Works". Volume XVII, p. 270,

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• There is nothing in this world constant, but inconstancy.

  Jonathan Swift

  Literature, World, Constant

  'A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind' (1709)

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• Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives and the sincerest part of our devotion.

  Jonathan Swift

  Prayer, Heaven, Devotion

  Jonathan Swift (1755). “The works of Jonathan Swift ...: accurately revised ... adorned with copperplates; with some account of the author's life, and notes historical and explanatory”, p.227

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• There is nothing constant in this world but inconsistency.

  Jonathan Swift

  World, This World, Inconsistency

  29 Copy quote

• Fools are apt to imitate only the defects of their betters.

  Jonathan Swift

  Fool, Defects

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.187

  5 Copy quote

• I love white Portugal wine better than claret, champagne, or burgundy. I have a sad vulgar appetite.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wine, White, Portugal

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.373

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• The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.

  Jonathan Swift

  Funny, Marriage, Time

  'Thoughts on Various Subjects' (1706)

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• A true critic, in the perusal of a book, is like a dog at a feast, whose thoughts and stomach are wholly set upon what the guests fling away, and consequently is apt to snarl most when there are the fewest bones.

  Jonathan Swift

  Dog, Book, Guests

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1824). “Tale of a tub. Battle of the books. A discourse concerning the mechancial operation of the spirit. Abstract of the history of England ... Letters ... Poems ascribed to Swift”, p.107

  4 Copy quote

• So endless and exorbitant are the desires of men that they will grasp at all, and can form no scheme of perfect happiness with less.

  Jonathan Swift

  Happiness, Men, Perfect

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.420

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• Have you not observed that there is a lower kind of discretion and regularity, which seldom fails of raising men to the highest station in the court, the church, and the law?

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Law, Church

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1824). “Epistolary correspondence. Letters from August 1714, to September 1724”, p.332

  7 Copy quote

• Walls have tongues, and hedges ears.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wall, Ears, Tongue

  'A Pastoral Dialogue between Richmond Lodge and Marble Hill' (1727) l. 8

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• Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and speakers because, whoever shares his thoughts with the public will convince them as he himself appears convinced.

  Jonathan Swift

  Optimism, Quality, Share

  8 Copy quote

• Common fluency of speech in many men and most women is owing to a scarcity of matter.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Scarcity, Owing

  Jonathan Swift (1761). “The Works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin. Accurately Corrected by the Best Editions. With the Author's Life and Character; Notes Historical, Critical, and Explanatory; Tables of Contents, and Indexes. More Complete Than Any Preceding Edition. In Eight Volumes”, p.388

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• Whence proceeds this weight we lay
  On what detracting people say?
  Their utmost malice cannot make
  Your head, or tooth, or finger ache;
  Nor spoil your shapes, distort your face,
  Or put one feature out of place.

  Jonathan Swift

  People, Weight, Shapes

  Jonathan Swift (1841). “The Works. Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published. With Memoir of the Author, by Thomas Roscoe. -London, Washbourne 1841”, p.629

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• The scholars of Ireland seem not to have the least conception of style, but run on in a flat phraseology, often mingled with barbarous terms.

  Jonathan Swift

  Running, Style, Term

  7 Copy quote

• Hobbes clearly proves, that every creature Lives in a state of war by nature.

  Jonathan Swift

  War, Hobbes, States

  "On Poetry" l. 319 (1733)

  8 Copy quote

• T is as cheap sitting as standing.

  Jonathan Swift

  Sitting, Standing

  4 Copy quote

• Hail fellow, well met.

  Jonathan Swift

  Hail, Mets, Wells

  My Lady's Lamentation" l. 165 (written 1728)

  20 Copy quote

• Brisk talkers are usually slow thinkers. There is, indeed, no wild beast more to be dreaded than a communicative man having nothing to communicate. If you are civil to the voluble they will abuse your patience; if brusque, your character.

  Jonathan Swift

  Character, Men, Talking

  6 Copy quote

• Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.

  Jonathan Swift

  Littles, Gulliver's Travels, Philosopher

  Jonathan Swift (1826). “Gulliver's Travels”, p.103

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• A stander-by may sometimes, perhaps, see more of the game than he that plays it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Games, Play, May

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1801). “Miscellaneous pieces”, p.4

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• If it were a rainy day, a drunken vigil, a fit of the spleen, a course of physic, sleepy Sunday, an ill run at dice, a long tailor's bill, a beggar's purse, a factious head, a hot sun, costive diet, want of books, and a just contempt for learning - but for these. . .the number of authors and of writing would dwindle away to a degree most woeful to behold.

  Jonathan Swift

  Running, Book, Writing

  8 Copy quote

• A ridiculous passion which hath no being but in play-books and romances.

  Jonathan Swift

  Love, Book, Passion

  Jonathan Swift, Deane Swift, Thomas Birch, Thomas Wilkes, Thomas Hawkesworth (1768). “The Works of the Reverend Dr. Jonathan Swift: Miscellanies in prose”, p.366

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